Iridium
Selects Two In Competition For Design
And Development Contract For “Next”
Constellation
August 4, 2008
Iridium Satellite LLC has selected two
companies – Lockheed Martin and Thales
Alenia Space – to participate in the
final phase of its procurement process
for the company’s next-generation
satellite constellation, “Iridium
NEXT.” Iridium chose Lockheed Martin and
Thales Alenia Space as a result of their
initial, innovative constellation design
concepts; demonstrated understanding of
performance requirements and
capabilities; and preliminary cost
estimates for the manufacture and launch
of Iridium NEXT. The final phase will
last approximately nine months and is
anticipated to result in the award of a
full-scale development agreement for
Iridium NEXT with one prime contractor
by the middle of 2009.
“The selection of
Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space
is a major milestone for us,” stated
Matt Desch, CEO and chairman, Iridium.
“This program reflects our commitment to
the expansion of our amazing and very
unique network, and to making our
services even more powerful and
cost-effective for our customers as we
replace our technical marvel of a
network with an even more powerful one.”
Iridium, with more
than 285,000 subscribers, is the fastest
growing mobile satellite services (MSS)
provider and it offers a highly
differentiated service
capability. Iridium is unmatched for
reliable, secure, near real-time
worldwide communications and, as the
only truly global mobile voice and data
service provider, delivers a dependable
and critical lifeline where no other
communications reach. With Iridium NEXT,
the company plans to not only continue
advancing the way its customers do
business through the use of Iridium
services, but also to serve new markets.
“We are extremely
impressed with our finalists’ technical
and creative design recommendations, as
well as with their ideas for important
enhancements to our existing service
offerings,” said Desch. “Both are
identifying ways of meeting our Iridium
NEXT requirements using advanced
technology concepts. These concepts will
help us realize cost-effective ways of
providing enhanced products, services
and capabilities for our current
customers, as well as for those new
customers we plan to serve in the future
– and the finalists are showing us they
know how to do it in an affordable way.”
Through Iridium
NEXT, the company plans to offer a
flexible array of new services in
addition to continuing what it offers
today. Iridium NEXT will maintain the
company’s unique and advanced
cross-linked satellite architecture. It
will feature an IP-based architecture,
leveraging broad-based technology
enhancements from the industry. In
addition, Iridium NEXT has the potential
to host multiple secondary payloads,
which will broaden the scope of the
network’s capabilities while providing
an additional platform for applications
such as sensing, earth observation, and
command and control.
